![18D72D14-60C4-4B60-8BBA-313CD3BBAFBF.jpeg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/selfhelp4trolls/23tmLE4JLWZQ1FsU6W8DLyoTnQ9bc5vA1UfNuCaNMvTcAeBbp41V5v4zFyTWuEYqiHg2n.jpeg)


Despite feeling like a nothing-burger of a year, [upon some reflection](https://peakd.com/hive-181017/@selfhelp4trolls/2022-the-forgotten-year) 2022 was full of progress, hard to quantify but very real.

The last few years weren’t the best of my life, and I don’t think I’m in the clear just year but we are moving closer!

If I see one big potential difference between 2022 and 2023, it's that **the progress will be more quantifiable than 2022** (and most years since 2017 for me).

Where 2022 was about putting out work that more truly represents my vision, 2023 will be about growing an audience through refining the presentation. 

In 2022 I started putting out a lot more than I had before, 2023 will be about refining everything. 

Where 2022 was more about finding stretches and massages to stabilize my back issues, 2023 will be about gaining muscle. 

That last one I meant literally but it serves as a pretty good metaphor for how 2023 will be different from 2022. 

I feel almost as if my dream life has been born but now I’m going to have to make sure it’s fed and nurtured and loved during the crucial development stages. 

The main theme of the year will be **Refinement**.  Refining ideas, refining plans and skills and methods and routines. I’ve felt for a few years now that 2024 would be the year of reaping fruit and so 2023, like 2022 will be a bit unspectacular on the surface, but you’ll start to be able to see the harvest growing tangibly. 



##### **January will be about clearing the table**.  

It will be full of formalities and getting the unpleasant stuff out of the way. I have a visa renewal coming up and sending contracts to all my students and documents to immigration will be my priority. While I’m at it I plan to get my taxes out of the way early. 

I also hope to do more advertising so I can double my reliable and fun classes from 8 to 16. I have around 25 students but more than half of them have irregular schedules, a few pay the old lower prices and a handful who are unclear about their goals. I want to focus entirely on reliable students with clear goals who appreciate me. 

##### **February will be when the creative juices start to flow in full force**. 
I will restart the podcast in a January but I want  to pre-record enough for a few months during February. Planned guests include an East African YouTuber, a plus sized model, two backpacking artists and a friend in a polyamorous relationship. 

I also have the third installment of Confessions of the Damaged to release and I promised not to release it until I finished the rough draft of the fourth part and so I will get busy writing in February. 

##### **March will be about putting myself out there** 
and will see the release of Confessions of the Damaged 1.3 and from there I’ll turn my focus towards promotion, for the podcast and for the book as well as some merchandise I’m making under the name “Self Help for Trolls”. (Very LOL!)

##### **Spring is where I plan to get more active in Tokyo** 
and start socializing more since that is when it’s most fun. I hope to start writing music actively again. 

##### Summer will hopefully be about music.  
I hope I can level up my recordings during this time. So far I’ve only made sloppy demos like this one: 

“To Be Human” - I+Everything (Fo Tan Sessions)
https://youtu.be/6Z9v3FLjpUY

I’m still not sure if I should share these prematurely like this. My voice is pretty weak during this session but it’ll be a while before I can re-record it well. Let me know if you like the demos or if I should wait until I polish them up a bit to release. 

##### **Winter will be about reflection, recalibration and planning for 2024** 
which I anticipate to be a huge year for me. I don’t anticipate much travel in 2023, maybe a short trip somewhere in Asia but I think travel will be a huge part of my 2024 and I want to try and make it as awesome as possible. 

I am not just looking to see places. I want to connect and learn and share whatever I can, participate in events etc. I have three trips in my mind. Asia (Thailand, Indonesia, maybe Taiwan), Europe (Portugal, Spain, Italy and Germany. Possibly more), and Africa (Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda). 

A lot of 2023 will be about setting up my work and creative activity to be able to travel on a whim and join events around the world. 

I am going to try my best not to get too attached to this predictions or hopes or even the plans that are more in my control. I have a habit of thinking to far ahead and so I want to put my attention inside the present moment as much as possible. I’m just taking this opportunity to dream some dreams that don’t feel too far fetched, where I can actually believe them. 

I hope bitcoin can build a new bottom around  40k and set up for another huge bull market in 2024. 

I hope my health stabilizes so I don’t feel weighed down anymore. 

I hope I find all those new students before March. 

I hope I get a 3 year visa come 2024. 

I hope my family comes to visit.

I hope I can take at least one trip this coming year. 

I hope there is a lot more fun than there has been in the last few years. Meaningful fun. 

The world may be in a bit of an unstable period but I’m optimistic for the people who remain flexible, and I am certainly one of those. 

Here’s to a New Year! 


—-
Latest vlog: 
How I Slay Depression and Stay Positive Every Day
https://youtu.be/01Ja_WXvLm8